Sharona and the missing man
by LemonPeaves
Summary: We all know what Adrian's friends went through when he was lost in Wyoming but what happens when an old friend hears of his disappearance? How does Sharona deal with the events of 'Mr Monk bumps his head?
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**Rating: K+**

A/N: **_Read and review and I'll supply you with wipes forever, thank you! _**

Sharona Fleming stood next to the reception desk at the New Jersey State Hospital. She was trying to fill in a form that needed finishing before she could move onto the next patient. The A+E department had been busy that night and the blonde couldn't wait to get home and go to bed. Of course, the night shift didn't end until 6am so it was going to be a long wait.

She sighed as the phone rang at the reception desk. She kept her eyes on the paper before looking up after a few rings. She looked around for the receptionist...there was normally two on duty but there didn't appear to be anyone there. She looked down to the form again, she wasn't the receptionist, she wasn't going to answer it. It rang and as Sharona tried to concentrate more the louder the phone sounded. With one last sigh and a quick look around her she slammed her pen down and reached over the desk.

"Hello?" She all but snapped.  
"Hi, this is Sergeant Campbell from the San Francisco Police Department."

She was sure her heart stopped right then. San Francisco? Why were they calling her? Or actually...why weren't they calling her? They were calling the hospital...  
Did they know she worked there...  
Okay. So maybe she was getting ahead of herself. It wasn't about her. It was a police department and this was a hospital, it happened all the time. Emergency services contact each other...that's just what they do.  
Still...SFPD.  
No. Sharona. No.

"Ma'am?"  
"Sorry, please, go on."

She heard paper rustling but the police officer spoke straight away, she knew he didn't need the paper or file or whatever it was.

"We're putting out an APB on a missing person..."  
"From San Francisco?" She interrupted.  
"Yes Ma'am."  
"Must be a very important person."

She heard the police officer chuckle.

"Oh he is, you don't know how many hospitals and police stations I've called tonight."

She smiled, she liked this police officer.

"Hang on, I'll get something to write down the information and I'll get everyone aware."  
"Thank you."

She held the phone between her ear and shoulder and quickly found a scrap of paper to go with pen she had discarded moments before.

"Okay..."  
"Okay...we're looking for a man of average height, white, short dark hair. He was last seen in a brown suit with a light shirt. We believe he may have been hurt and we don't know what kind of condition he might be in. Now, it's a long shot that we'll find him in a hospital but as I said, we don't know if he's hurt or how badly. We don't know how likely it'll be that he's in New Jersey but if he's disorientated we believe he could have gone to find an old friend who moved there a couple of years ago. If a person who could fit the description does turn up you can phone your local police station or phone this number. I'd like to repeat that this is a very serious case..."

Sharona interrupted again.

"Is he dangerous?" She asked.  
"No!" The officer seemed to laugh again. "No, he's not. This comes from the top."

She knew what that meant. It did sound serious.

"Okay, I have all that..."  
"I appreciate your time Ma'am."

Her eyes swept over the description, there was something missing.

"Wait." She said. "This man, does he have a name?"  
"Monk." The officer said. "Adrian Monk."

She nearly dropped the phone. She nearly fainted. If she had known which of the actions to do first she would have hit the deck, phone and all.

"Adrian Monk?"  
"That's right Ma'am, thank you for your time."

He hung up, leaving Sharona listening to the dialling tone.  
Adrian.  
Was missing?  
She looked back to the description, hooking the phone back on it's holder.  
It all made sense. The dark hair, the suits. Missing. He was missing? How did that happen? She suddenly felt a pang of guilt. She had left him with nobody. All alone. Sure he had The Captain, Lieutenant Disher, Dr Kruger but he didn't have someone there, all the time. He needed someone like that. He needed her. She had wondered, throughout the years if he had found someone, to look after him. She had thought about calling but she never had the right words. What if he had been mad at her? Disappointed? She had left so suddenly. She regretted it. She did. She knew what kind of person he was. Trudy had left him...not that she had had a choice and then she had left him.

She rested her elbows on the desk and dropped her head into her hands. She had three hours left on duty. Would he really turn up? Was it better that she was at the hospital? Or at home? He didn't even know where she lived though..  
She looked up at the clock hanging on the wall behind the reception desk. Three hours. She looked down at the description. Right.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2 is here! **

She let herself quietly into the house. It was just before 7am and everything was still quiet. She found herself sighing for the thousandth time in the last three hours. She shut the front door and hung her coat and bag on the line of hooks right next to the door. She pulled out her phone from the handbag she had just hung up and made her way into the kitchen. She switched on the kettle and stifled a yawn. She needed a coffee. The clock on the wall told her Benji would be getting up in an hour for school. When she did nightshift she would normally wait up until he'd gone off to school before dragging her exhausted self into her bed. The kettle boiled and she quickly made herself a cup of coffee. She sat down at their kitchen table, lay her phone on the wood in front of her and took a sip of the dark hot liquid. It warmed her throat and she could feel herself instantly relax. She set her mug down and looked down at her cell. It was dark and it appeared lifeless. It had been like this for the past three hours and Sharona wasn't sure if she was glad about it or not.

Sure they would have her number. It was the same number. They would contact her if...

Wouldn't they? If the worse had happened? Surely they would.

She touched the green 'call' button with the tip of her finger, then the red 'on/off' button and then before she knew it she had touched them all, in order of size and number. She groaned. She needed to know if they had found him, she needed to know if he was okay. Maybe she would phone his home phone. If he wasn't there then surely someone would be...just incase. The Captain...Randy? If they were there and they did answer then they definitely would recognise her voice. They would tell Adrian and he would be...angry, upset, hurt? She didn't know exactly. She was scared, actually, if she was honest with herself. She knew she had done a bad thing. Leaving without a word...well written word didn't count. She had felt awful and she still did..

Would talking to him again hurt him more? That was the last thing she wanted to do, she had cared about him, she still did.

Her nail scratched gently over the screen of her phone. She half hoped it would light up. She took a sip of her coffee.

Maybe if she just rang and hung up...no, this was a big search, The Captain wouldn't leave any stone unturned when it came to Monk, she would be traced. Was that a bad thing? She took a deep breath. No. She was concerned, he was a friend and he had gone missing, she wanted to know, she had a right to know if he was alright. She picked up the phone and typed in the number she knew all too well.

It rang.

One ring before it was answered.

"Hello?" The voice was a woman's, she sounded desperate and Sharona could tell that just by her voice she hadn't had much sleep.

She opened her mouth to speak but found she couldn't. She couldn't say a thing.

"Hello? Is anyone there? Mr Monk?"

"I...er." She rubbed her forehead. "Is Mrs...Coffee there?"

"Excuse me?"

"I think I have the wrong number."

"Oh..."

"Thanks bye."

And then she put the phone down. So he did have another person in his life. A woman. A woman he was obviously close to judging by how desperate she was for the caller to be Monk. She had called him Mr Monk. Maybe they weren't that close...

She cursed herself. Why did she have to hang up. She could have asked, it wouldn't have been hard, um hello, my name is Sharona, I used to work for Adrian, could you tell me...is he okay?

Stupid woman. Stupid woman. Stupid woman.

She heard her son's alarm go off in his room and gulped down her a little too warm coffee. She stood up and placed her mug in the sink ready to wash when she got up. She wandered into the lounge and rooted around for the remote control down the back of the sofa.

"Benji!" She shouted. "Get up for school honey!"

She found the remote and clicked on the television. The news was on and she half hoped she'd find Captain Stottlemeyer standing on the steps of the police building giving a press release about Adrian's disappearance. The weather came on. More rain across the city. Great.

"Benji!" She yelled as she sat down on the sofa.

"I'm up Mom! Your phone's ringing!"

She sat up straight.

"What?"

"I got it!"

"What?"

"Hello?"

She shot up and ran into the kitchen.

"Um no...I'm sorry, who is this?"

"Who is it?" Sharona asked in a loud whisper.

Her son shrugged.

"You might have spoken to my Mom...do you want-? Oh, okay, right, bye."

He hung up and dropped the phone back onto the bench.

"Careful!"

"Sorry."

"Who was it?"

"Someone said you'd called them earlier...something about a wrong number?"

"Oh.."

Why were they ringing her back?

"How long were you on the phone?" She asked her son.

"A minute, maybe less..."

Long enough. Had they traced the call? Had Mrs Coffee not thrown them off...good police work right there Sharona...

She looked down at the phone which was once again dark and unresponsive.

"Mom?"

"Yeah..." She put on a smile.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, of course, get ready for school yeah."

He smiled.

"Sure."

He disappeared and Sharona picked her phone up and went back to the living room. She collapsed again onto the sofa.

Her eyes hurt and her head hurt and all she wanted to do was sleep. She thought about the voice on the other end of the line. The woman. She wondered what her name was. She wondered why that was her first thought, her name. That's what people think of first though isn't it, a name, a baby in a pram, first thing you ask, what's her name?

Maybe she was just a police officer. She didn't sound it though. This woman sounded worried and concerned and all the things that she herself was feeling now, and probably more. She leant her head back on the back of the couch and shut her eyes.

This was so silly. Why couldn't she just ring back and ask. They were tracing her anyway.

Something was stopping her and she hated it.

"Mom, I'm off, see you later."

The boy kissed her on the cheek.

"Bye honey, have a nice day."

When the front door closed she pulled herself off from the couch and went to her bedroom. She was so glad she had the day off tomorrow, she didn't even have to set her alarm. She peeled off her nurses uniform and dropped it in the corner. Without bothering to put on any pyjamas, she slid under her duvet and rested her head on her pillow. She was pretty sure it was the softest thing she had ever felt. She closed her eyes and minutes later, her head filled with thoughts of her old boss, she fell asleep.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3 - Disclaimer and Rating same as before :) **

"Mom, Mom..."

Her eyes flickered open, the room was dark.

"Mom, dinner."

"What?" She muttered.

Her sons face appeared in front of her.

"I ordered pizza..."

"What time is it?"

"8.30."

"PM?"

"Yeah."

"I've slept that long?"

"You must have been tired."

"Why didn't you wake me?" She asked, sitting up.

"I didn't want to, you looked exhausted this morning." He said.

"I can't believe I've slept the whole day..."

Benji smiled.

"But we have pizza now so..."

She smiled.

"We have!"

He jumped off the bed.

"I'll put you a few slices on a plate."

He said while disappearing out of the room.

She rubbed her eyes and yawned, she still felt tired. She again thanked god she had a day off...not that god had anything to do with it...Helen the head nurse did the rota's...she swung her feet out of the bed.

Thank Helen.

She yawned again and stood up, grabbing her biggest sweatshirt and a pair of pyjama bottoms.

She made her way slowly into the kitchen where she saw her son and a massive pizza box.

"That should keep us going." She said.

"Cold pizza for breakfast."

She smiled.

"Oh Benji."

"What?" He said, handing her a plate with some pizza on.

"I just think you're adorable." She laughed.

He laughed too.

"Here, take some soda.

He handed her the glass and with one last smile she made her way to the living room. She clicked on the tv as she sat down. The news was on. Live from San Francisco.

"The hunt is still on for the missing ex detective, Adrian Monk."

She dropped her pizza. Why was it on the news here? Surely it wasn't that big of a case...what had happened?

The news presenter linked to a reporter standing in front of the building she was all too familiar with. She turned up the volume.

"Yes Richard, I'm standing here in front of the San Francisco Police Department where Captain Leland Stottlemeyer, head of the homicide division, will be making a statement very soon."

There was a split screen and New Jersey's favourite anchor, Richard Sterling appeared on the screen.

"Why is this case so big Shirley?"

Shirley Clarke pulled a strand of blonde hair away from her mouth and raised her microphone to her lips.

"Well we understand Mr Monk was a police officer who, after the death of his wife in a car bomb, turned away from the force and became an adviser for the homicide sector of the police department down here in San Francisco."

"And he's gone missing? Why is this so country wide?"

"He is very well known here..."

"Mom?"

Benji came into the living room.

"What?" She half turned away from the television.

"Mom what are you watching?"

"It's..."

The television showed a panda in a cage at New Jersey Zoo.

"What a great story Shirley, I hope they find Andy the Panda a mate very soon."

"What?" Sharona put her pizza down onto the coffee table and snatched the remote. She changed the channel, she changed it again, and then again, she couldn't find Adrian...

"Mom, are you okay?" Benji asked worriedly.

"The news...it was.."

"About a panda." The boy said.

"No...it."

She clicked the news back on. Shirley Clarke was crouching next to a large panda that did look incredibly lonely. She linked back to the studio.

"Thank you Shirley, and now over to Ken in our weather studio, Ken, are we due any sunshine?"

"It doesn't look like it Richard, more rain is-"

"Mom, are you okay?"

Sharona muted the television.

"Do you know where my cell is?"

"It's..." He rooted around under a magazine on the coffee table. "Here."

She took it off him. No missed calls. She looked back at the television, the news was finishing. Had she just imagined that? Made the whole thing up? She sighed, running a hand over her face. She dropped her phone back onto the coffee table.

"Hey Benji, run to the shop for me will you, pick up some chocolate for the both of us."

Benji frowned.

"I've just started eating." He said.

"Please."

He frowned again but put his plate down and stood up.

"Take the money from my purse." Sharona said.

"Are you sure you're okay Mom? I'm worried."

"I'm fine, go on."

"'Kay..."

As soon as he was gone she sprung up out of her chair and raced over to the landline phone over by the window. She picked it up and dialled quickly.

"Hello, San Francisco Police Department, how may I help?"

"Um, hi, hello, my name is Sharona Fleming, I'm calling about the missing detective, Adrian Monk."

"Have you got any information on his whereabouts Ma'am?"

"I...um, no...I was wondering if there was any news, if you've found him yet..?"

"I'm sorry Ma'am, are you family?"

"No, I...he's a close friend of mine."

"I can't disclose a lot of information to you Miss Fleming...not if you're not family."

"Just tell me if he's okay...please."

"We don't know yet."

"You...haven't found him?"

"No Ma'am."

"Okay, thank you, very much.

She put the phone down and bit her lip to stop herself from crying. She wanted to know what was happening, she wanted to call Captain Stottlemeyer, she wanted to be involved. But then she didn't. She didn't want him to know she had been in contact. She didn't want to hurt him by suddenly being in his life again, just like that. She had hurt him, what she did always went through her mind, she wished she had never done it, she wished she had stayed in contact. Now though, she only had one wish, that she could work up the courage to do the right thing. But what was the right thing? Contact him and possibly hurt him or stay away and have an unbearable wait of not knowing where he was or if he was okay.

She picked up her pizza and took a bite. What was she going to do?


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

The next night Sharona was sat on her own in her living room. She had had a lovely day off. She had done all the basic things that a single Mother did on their day off. She washed, she cleaned, she shopped. At lunch time she had managed to find out some more information on Adrian from her sister that had set her mind a little at rest. He was still missing but she now knew just how hard the whole Police Department were working to find him. Apparently it was everywhere. In the newspapers, in the news. Captain Stottlemeyer had even put out a statement about it. Gail had seen it on the news, Sharona told her about the Panda...

She was now sitting alone, Benji was at his friend's house but she didn't mind, she liked the quiet.

Her thoughts drifted again to Adrian. Everyone sounded hopeful according to Gail so maybe the police knew more then they were letting on. All the same she wished she could have seen Stottlemeyer, seen his face, his expression. Then she would have known for sure whether or not he was really hopeful.

Even so she felt a bit happier than yesterday. She settled back onto the couch and was just about to turn the tv on when the phone rang. She dragged herself up to answer it.

"Hello?"

"Hi Sharona, it's Helen."

She smiled at the voice of her boss and head nurse of the hospital.

"Hey Helen, everything alright?"

"Well actually no, Timmy has come down with something and I have to go home, I know it's short notice but can you cover my night shift?"

"Tonight?"

"Yes please, you know I wouldn't ask if it wasn't important."

Well so much for quiet.

"Sure I will."

"Oh thank you so much Sharona! I owe you one!"

"It's no problem."

She said goodbye and hung up. So much for her night off. She found, as she made her way into her bedroom to find her nurses outfit that she didn't mind going into work. It wouldn't be busy, it was Tuesday and generally it seemed that no-one seemed to get hurt badly on a Tuesday. She knew Helen would do the same for her too, they were both single Mothers, when it came to a child being poorly they understood.

She regretted not folding her uniform the night before but she threw it on anyway deciding that it wasn't creased too badly and it looked presentable. She found her mobile phone underneath a magazine on your coffee table and sent a text to her son explaining where she was and that she's see him in the morning. She then turned the tv and the lamp off, grabbed her keys and her bag, pulled her coat on and left the house for another night at work.

She got to work relatively quickly, the traffic being light despite the cold, grey rain. She passed Helen on her way in, the head nurse gave her the nights file and with a final 'thank you' rushed out into the rain.

She made her way to the staff room where she quickly locked her things away in her locker and rifled through the file she had just been given. Her first patient was a man with a broken arm. Set it. Easy. Maybe working tonight would have been just as good as having the night off.

She got the cast done quickly just as she thought and she was just about to move on to her next patient when a young nurse came in. The young red head showed the man out then turned to Sharona.

"Evening Sharona." She said happily.

"Hey Laura, good shift?"

"Yes, well, it was, until Verity found out you were coming in to fill in for Helen."

She turned on the tap on the small sink and placed her hands under the water. She turned her head to look at the girl.

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"She's pretty mad that you're Helen's favourite."

Sharona laughed as she rubbed soap into her palms.

"Helen doesn't have favourites, what does she think it is, school?"

Laura shrugged as she handed Sharona a handful of paper towels.

"Thanks."

"She knows that when Helen goes on maternity leave that you're going to take over as head nurse."

Sharona frowned. Helen was currently 5 months pregnant and glowing. As she dried her hands she wondered why she had never thought about what would happen when she was gone. Surely there wouldn't be another head nurse, a deputy head nurse...but then who would run things, write out the rotas?

"So what? Verity doesn't think I could handle the responsibility?"

"She wants the position herself."

"I didn't even think about it 'til you just mentioned it. She's actually been thinking about it?"

"Yeah."

"That's a bit silly."

Laura smiled.

"I wouldn't mind if you were head nurse."

Sharona smiled too, surprisingly touched at the nurses's words.

"Well thank you Laura. And I'll tell you now, you'd be my favourite!"

The girl beamed at her. Sharona smiled too.

"Are you with me tonight?" She asked.

The girl seemed to think for a moment.

"No, I'm stuck with Verity. I only came to tell you to call off the search."

"What?"

"The police called earlier, the missing man from San Francisco, he's been found, the search is over."

Her heart stopped. She just stared at the girl. Her first thought was to ask where they found him, how he was, what he was doing. She needed to sit down but she found she couldn't move. She stood stock still, staring at the poor girl across from her.

"Sh-Sharona? Are you alright?" Laura asked her quietly.

"I'm just...I'm going to just..."

The girls eyes filled with concern, she placed her papers onto the cabinet to her right, ready to spring into action if the older woman collapsed. She had gone horribly pale.

"Sharona?"

The older blonde sat down on the bed and rubbed her forehead. She looked back up at the girl.

"Do you know...what, I mean, how...where they found him?"

She tried to be casual, sound casual, the girl frowned.

"No...they just said, search over, thank you for your cooperation. The usual..."

"Right."

The girl looked panicked so she gave her a small smile.

"Thanks Laura."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

She reckoned she had phoned him three times, maybe four over the course of her shift. She couldn't focus on the job at hand, as she looked at someone's rash, she cursed herself for not actually plucking up the courage to speak.

The first time she had rang his home the same woman answered. Her tone was different to how it had been before but she couldn't place it. She just sounded exhausted, like she hasn't slept in weeks. She once again wondered who she was, if she wasn't careful she wasn't going to sleep just thinking about it.

The second and third time it had only rang twice before she pressed her thumb down hard on the red 'end call' button. She couldn't bare it. She wanted to cry. She was scared.

After half an hour she tried again, this time a girl answered.

"Hello?"

"Um hi."

"Hi..?"

"Is...I..is um."

She heard a scuffle from the other side of the phone. A deep voice, a voice she recognised all too well.

"Julie...who is it...it's h-"

Then she hung up. Shit. Why was she being like this? She didn't get scared very easily but this..

She knew what she was scared of. She was scared of hearing those words. The words that would have just broken her heart into a million pieces, an even million. He's dead Sharona. She didn't know what she would do if he died. They didn't speak since she walked out of his life but it wasn't by choice. He'd rang. She had just been too...scared, stupid? She hated the situation. She hated it so much. She wanted to see him, to hold him...well the best she could, and tell him how much she loved him. He was her best friend.

Laura decided to send her home an hour earlier, claiming that she could cover the hour no problem. She was grateful to the girl, she felt like crying, she couldn't carry on like this, especially not at work.

The roads were empty driving home so she got in pretty much as soon as she had left.

She put the kettle on deciding that she'd have a coffee and drag a blanket onto the sofa. It was around six when she got sorted. With her pyjamas and coffee and blanket she settled onto the sofa. She reckoned Benji would be up soon as it was Wednesday and as he had Spanish class first thing at school with a rather attractive teacher, he would be wanting to make sure he was smart. Usually the place stank of half a bottle of cologne that he dragged around the house having doused himself with it a little too heavily. She finished her coffee quickly leaving her throat warm and her sleepy.

At around seven she was woken by her son clattering around in the kitchen.

She yawned and moaned, she felt stiff from her shift and from the sofa she had just dozed off on.

"Mom?" Her son stuck his head in the door.

She smiled at him and yawned again.

"Hey! Good Morning."

"Morning, did you get in early?"

"Yeah, it wasn't busy so I went home a little early." She was only half lying, it was quite quiet...

"Okay." He shrugged.

He then disappeared from the room to get ready for school.

Sharona sighed, she was tired of sighing but her tiredness just made her sigh more.

She pottered around until her son came back down. She tried not to think to much. She tried not to think about the fact that he had been the first thing she had thought about when she woke. She tided up the coffee table. Her thoughts wandering to the deep voice she had heard earlier. Leland Stottlemeyer. Would he have been there if he had been dead? Sharona imagined him, if Monk had died, especially after having gone missing to go into a kind of anger. With the whole police department looking for him when he disappeared for a day. He sounded calm..? Matter of Factly? She wasn't sure. You can tell so little over the phone. She wasn't sure who the girl was, she decided to forget about the woman, it was driving her mad. Maybe a trainee, a young police officer? She sounded young, really young, she sounded like the girls that Benji brought round. No, she was still in high school.

"Mom...I forgot to say..."

"Hm?"

She picked up her cup and took it into the kitchen with her, she stopped at the doorway, staying out of the way of her son running around looking for his school shoes.

"Aunty Gail called."

She gripped her cup harder.

"She did?"

"Yeah."

"What, er, what did she say?"

"Nothing...she said she'd call you back."

She bit her lip.

"How did she say it?"

"What do you mean?"

"In what way did she say she'd phone me back? What was her tone?"

"Her tone?"

"Yes!"

"I don't know."

"Well did she say anything else?"

"No."

"Anything at all?"

"No...Mom, what is it?"

She tried to smile.

"Nothing."

She gave him her cup.

"Come on." She said. "School."


	5. Chapter 5

**Final chapter - thank you for reading! **

She spent the morning in the kitchen. She decided to make chicken pot pie from scratch for Benji. The pie didn't take her long to make but she knew the mess she made would take her an age to clean up. After admiring her handy work for a few seconds, she carefully placed the pie in the oven then picked her mobile phone up for the 7,000th time. She wasn't even kidding. The pie probably would have been made two weeks ago if she hasn't been so distracted by the horribly dark cell. She was surprised it hadn't turned itself off in protest, it had been moved around so much, it's buttons stabbed harshly with sharp nails.

"Hello?"

She hung up.

"Hello?"

No, she couldn't.

"Hello?"

Wrong number.

"Who is this?"

They probably thought they had a stalker.

She sat down at the table, sipping on the hot coffee that she had just made herself. Wow. She was really getting through the coffee jar this week. She made a mental note to put coffee on the shopping list...they also needed milk, and gravy, actually, it was probably a good idea for her to go shopping soon or starvation was going to be a big problem in the house. She took her first sip of her hot coffee when the mobile phone in front of her rang.

She knew who it was. She toyed with the idea of not picking it up. To keep baking her pie, to keep burying her feelings, her fears. She wanted to..

The shrill ring hurt her ears, she knew that whoever it was on the phone wasn't going to give up. She picked it up, her thumb gently pressing down the 'answer' button. She took an unsteady breath and raised the now silent phone to her ear.

"Hello?"

"It is you."

Her heart raced faster at the deep voice in her ear.

"Is he...I mean..." Her voice trembled.

"Why haven't you called?"

The voice was harsh and low and it shook her.

"You have to tell me..."

"You didn't even say goodbye. He was a wreck."

"Is he okay.."

"You left him, you knew how fragile he was and you just disappeared."

"You have to-"

"I stayed with him for a week after. Someone else left him. Walked out of his life. I didn't think you, of all people-"

"Captain!"

She had shouted. She knew it. She knew it all. She saw the truth in everything he was saying. She was tired of thinking about it. Feeling like this.

"I felt, still feel, awful for what I did. You don't know how often I've wanted to call. Wanted to hear his voice, wanted him to ask me for a stupid wipe! I don't know what stopped me, all those times. Well, maybe I do. I was scared. Scared that he would hate me because yes, Captain, I did leave him, I did hurt him. But you know what, I hate myself for it. I won't apologise for it though. I love my life, I love my job. I left, I did, I left and it was a wrench, I should have thought, I did it wrong, I did, but I did what was right for me. These last few days have been hell-"

"They've been hell for all of us."

"I know."

"Natalie hasn't slept for days-"

"Natalie?"

"Yes."

Captain Stottlemeyer sighed, he sounded like he didn't have the energy to fight with her. He probably, no, not 'probably', she knew that he hadn't slept since his friend had gone missing.

"Look Sharona, I knew you had called, you're not exactly hard to trace."

"I was so scared."

"I know, I'm sorry I didn't contact you earlier, I really am, I should have known you would have been a wreck, just like the rest of us."

"You need to tell me Captain-"

"He's fine."

She burst into tears.

"He's asleep, we found him in Wyoming, he'd lost his memory."

"But he's healthy? He'll be okay?"

"Bit of a bruise on his head but nothing that can't be fixed."

Sharona could tell he was smiling. He had his best friend back. They must have been just as, probably even more, terrified than she was.

She sniffed and wiped her damp face with the back of her face.

"Can I tell him that you rang..?"

"Yes..."

She said it before she had even thought. But actually, yes, she wanted him to know she still cared. She wanted him to call her, she wanted to hear his voice. She wanted to know, that if anything ever happened to him that she would know, straight away.

"Yes." She repeated.

"It'll mean a lot to him, Sharona, to hear your voice. He misses you, we all do."

"Thanks for calling Captain."

"Goodbye Sharona."

She smiled.

"Goodbye Leland."

She put down the phone and cried. For ten minutes. She was glad she did. She hadn't exactly held her emotions together for the past couple of days but she felt like she hadn't been able to let go of what she was feeling properly. He was safe, he was healthy, unhurt. Her tears where that of relief and that of love. She hadn't realised just how much she missed him and truly loved him.

One thing was for sure though, now she had a hold on him, she was never letting go. Adrian Monk would have her forever and she was fine with that, wipes and all!


End file.
